Holocaust Education in Germany
- Introduction
- The German Education System
- The Continuing Relevance of the Holocaust
- The Principles of Holocaust Teaching
- Evaluating Holocaust Education
Introduction
The following information has been shared by Georg Merten of the German Information Center; 950 Third Avenue; New York, New York; 10022-2781; USA - with permission to reprint.
The article was researched and written by Gunter Wehrmann for the German Information Center and transcribed for the HGP by students Laren Dentone, Kelly Grace, and Devan Peel.
Outbreaks of xenophobic violence in Germany, arson attacks on Holocaust memorials, the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, and, above all, the sight of "skinhead" youths bedecked with rightwing insignia have caused some observers to question whether the Holocaust is studied in Germany after all. On the other hand, the many candlelight vigils and demonstrations against neo-Nazism in December 1992 and in January 1993, many of them attended by hundreds of thousands of German citizens, show that the German people, and not just their political leaders, are aware of the past. It is estimated that a total of more than three million people took to the streets in protests against xenophobia and neo-Nazism.
World War II and Hitler's dictatorship have, in fact, figured prominently in the curriculum of (West) German schools since the early 195Os. From the 1960s onwards, special emphasis has been placed upon conveying the horrors of the Holocaust. Outside the school curriculum, World War II, the Holocaust, and Jewish issues are often featured in the print media, on television, and in the world of the arts. This Focus looks at how the Holocaust is taught in schools in Germany. What follows is a presentation of the basic principles of Holocaust teaching in West Germany. They were also introduced in Eastern Germany following unification in 1990.
The German Education System
Education in Germany is the responsibility of the federal states (Lander). Education policy is coordinated on a national level by a standing conference of state (Land) ministers of education and cultural affairs. It is this body that has issued specific guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust which have been in force in the western German states since 1960.
What is taught in classrooms in Germany is determined by (a) state government syllabus directives issued in accordance with the national guidelines mentioned above and (b) by state government-approved textbooks that are produced by independent textbook publishers. The syllabus directives do not establish lesson plans. Instead, they determine the topics to be covered for every given grade and subject, and the teaching objectives to be achieved.
The Continuing Relevance of the Holocaust
For Germans, the Holocaust is not an event that happened in a faraway place in some distant past, but is part and parcel of their recent history. The memory of the Nazi dictatorship -- of which the Holocaust is an integral part -- and its traumatic legacies have been shaping German policies since the end of World War II. The rebuilding of political institutions in western Germany and postwar political education were largely determined by a serious effort to try to understand the horrors of the Nazi dictatorship and by searching for safeguards in order to prevent history from repeating itself. Consequently, teaching about Nazi dictatorship and the Holocaust at schools is not limited to a niche in the history syllabus like the "French and the Indian Wars." Instead, it is discussed again and again in different ways, in a number of subjects, and at different points in time.
The treatment of the Nazi period in all its aspects -- Hitler's rise to power; his establishment of a dictatorship in Germany; the abolition of the rule of law; the persecution of all kinds of political opponents; the racially motivated persecution of the Jews, culminating in the Holocaust; the reticence and opposition of German citizens; and, Germany's instigation of World War II -- is compulsory teaching matter at all types of schools in Germany and at all levels of education. The Holocaust is treated as the most important aspect of the period of Nazi rule.
The Principles of Holocaust Teaching
The Holocaust is treated in various school subjects in different ways.
- In history classes, the Nazi period is dealt with in the context of twentieth-century German, or world, history. Students who pass the Abitur exam, the prerequisite for university study at the age of eighteen or nineteen, receive a formal historical presentation of German history in the twentieth century twice -- during their final two years before graduation and at ninth or tenth grade level.
- In civic studies and current affairs classes, the lessons from the Holocaust are related to the teaching about Germany's political institutions and about the values that govern political life in a democratic society. When current affairs are discussed -- such as antisemitic incidents and rightwing extremism in Germany and elsewhere; ethnic cleansing in Bosnia; and, the Middle East conflict -- teachers will emphasize the importance of tolerance and the rule of law as lessons to be learned from the Holocaust.
- In religion or ethics classes, the Holocaust is discussed with reference to the guilt and responsibility of those Germans who did not risk their lives to fight National Socialism or to protect Jews. Since the notion of interreligious tolerance and the knowledge of other world religions are subjects of religious studies courses at German public schools, the teacher will often arrange a meeting with members of the organized Jewish community, a visit to the local synagogue, or to a Holocaust memorial or museum.
- Postwar German literature, above all in the 1950s and 1960s, is preoccupied with coming to terms with the Nazi era and the Holocaust. The fate of the Holocaust victims and what Germans did or did not do during the Third Reich often become subjects of German literature classes, when the works, novels, short stories, and plays of authors such as Alfred Andersch, Ilse Aichinger, Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, Rolf Hochhuth, Marie-Luise Kaschnitz, Siegfried Lenz, and others are discussed in the context of teaching about contemporary German literature.
- A visit to a Holocaust memorial or a Holocaust museum at the site of a former concentration camp is a standard feature of school excursions. In fact, the largest category of visitors at former concentration camps is often German high-school students led by their teachers.
The objective of teaching about the Holocaust is not limited to educating students about historical facts. Instead, the primary political and educational objective for confronting young Germans with their country's darkest past and their ancestors' guilt is, above all, to make them understand the consequences of Hitler's dictatorship, the uniqueness of the Holocaust, and to make them appreciate the values and institutions that protect freedom and democracy.
The following quotations from government education documents serve as illustrations of the philosophy of Holocaust education in Germany today. The syllabus directive issued by the education ministry of the Land North Rhine-Westfalia for the treatment of the Holocaust in ninth grade Realschule history classes emphasizes the importance of democratic institutions and ideas. The directive entitled, "From Anti-human Ideas to the Extermination of Human Lives," reads in part as follows:
"Students should learn to recognize:
- the destruction of a democratic government based upon the rule of law;
- the enforcement of the Führer's principles;
- total regimentation of the population through propaganda;
- discrimination and terror, and the anti-human ideas of the prerogative of an Aryan race form the bases from which Hitler could unleash a world war and embark upon the systematic destruction of human lives."
According to a document prepared by the North Rhine-Westfalia ministry of education, directives for Holocaust teaching in Hauptschulen stipulate among other things that:
- Teaching must seek to counter obliviousness to the past and critically edamine tendencies toward a "normalization" of German historical awareness. The examination of the causes of the success of National Socialism in Germany must therefore be a focal point in teaching.
- Teaching is to be devised in such a way that students realize the present and future significance of remembering National Socialism. Therefore, teaching of these topics had to address the questions associated with the responsibility of later generations, and the present manifestations of neo-Fascism and neo-antisemitism.
- Teaching must, in particular, convey the perspective of the victims and give students the opportunity to learn about everyday life under National Socialism in a vivid and tangible way.
Evaluating Holocaust Education
The German government has in the past established bilateral textbook commissions in cooperation with education specialists from a number of foreign countries (including the U.S. and Israel). These joint commissions examine the school textbooks of both countries with reference to the treatment of the other country, and issue recommendations. The German-Israeli textbook commission, whose findings were published in 1985, has had a considerable influence on the treatment of Jewish life and Jewish history, including the Holocaust, in school textbooks in Germany. Recently, the Israeli education expert, Chaim Schatzker, who has examined German textbooks since the early 1960s, stated that although he was not entirely satisfied with everything he had read, the treatment of antisemitism as part of German history was adequate in general, and exemplary in some textbooks. He also noted that the Holocaust is treated extensively and in an uncompromising way in all textbooks. He added that the large majority of textbooks addressed the issue of responsibility and co-responsibility of German citizens during the Third Reich seriously and in detail.
Teaching social values and imparting the knowledge of the achievements and crimes that human beings are capable of are essential for nourishing a commitment to tolerance and democracy in young people. Holocaust education alone, however, like any ethics teaching, is not enough to eliminate the crime and intolerance that are bred by social dislocation. If the teaching of ethics were a panacea, there would be no thefts, no homicides, and no bias-related crimes -- because all perpetrators were once taught not to steal, not to kill, and not to hate a
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